FREQUENCY OF CONVERSION TO OPEN CHOLECYSTECTOMY IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING LAPAROSCOPIC CHOLECYSTECTOMY: - A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS

Objective: To determine the frequency of conversion to open cholecystectomy in elective cases that underwent laparoscopicprocedure.Material and Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted in surgical department of Northwest General hospitaland research center, Peshawar-Pakistan. All the cases were performed by a single experienced general and laparoscopicsurgeon. All patients who underwent Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy (n =531) from September 2012 to April2018 were identified from the medical records maintained in the Health Information and Management System. Theywere considered as ‘converted’ if Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy was started initially but due to any reason it couldnot be continued safely and a conversion to open was necessitated. Cases that required conversion to open procedurein laparoscopic cholecystectomy were analyzed. the frequency of conversion to open and the factors responsible forsuch conversion were also noted.Results: A total of 531 patients were included in the study. The mean age was 48.82 years with a standard deviation(SD) of 15.06 years. Gender distribution of patients was analyzed and showed that 115(21.7%) of those recruited weremale and the majority 416 (78.3%) were female. All patients were given standard laparoscopic surgery protocol undergeneral anaesthesia. Fifty four [n=54(10.2%)] patients were converted to open cholecystectomy whereas, 477(89.8%)ended up with planned laparoscopic procedure.Conclusion: The conversion rate to open cholecystectomy in laparoscopic cholecystectomy in our study was 10.2%.The most common cause of conversion was gall bladder empyema and adhesion around gall bladder.